Chief Justice Beasley appoints next leader of Court of Appeals

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Judge Donna Stroud will be the next leader of the 15-member North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Outgoing Supreme Court Chief Justice Cheri Beasley formally appointed Stroud to the post of chief judge, effective Friday.

Stroud succeeds Linda McGee, who didn’t seek reelection this year and is leaving the court. So is Judge Wanda Bryant, who held the most seniority after McGee and also didn’t run.

Stroud has been on the court since 2007 and was once a Wake County District Court judge.

The intermediate-level Court of Appeals usually meets in three-judge panels to hear cases.